


The Incubus's Last Feast

by tetsunohana



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mythology, Alternate Universe - Succubi & Incubi, Barebacking, Car Sex, M/M, Multiple Orgasms
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-11
Updated: 2021-01-11
Packaged: 2021-03-15 03:47:27
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28682046
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tetsunohana/pseuds/tetsunohana
Summary: When Sehun gives a handsome stranger a free drink at the bar, he doesn't expect to get sucked into a world of monsters, gods, and shadows.
Relationships: Kim Minseok | Xiumin/Oh Sehun
Comments: 3
Kudos: 31





	The Incubus's Last Feast

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place in the same universe as another one of my works, The Shepherd's Song. The two stories are pretty independent, but there's a little bit more background information in The Shepherd's Song. For context, this delves deeper into one of the events in Chapter 3 of The Shepherd's Song, and contains spoilers for Chapter 3. Same warnings as for the other story: there's a fair amount of world-building and playing around with religion.

“I thought we weren’t allowed to flirt with the bartenders,” Minseok said, hiding a smile behind his whiskey.

The bartender was just his type: taller than him, with broad shoulders and strong facial features, and his eyes crinkled when he smiled. He smirked and pointed at the sign.

_ NO HITTING ON BARTENDERS _

“It doesn’t say anything about us hitting on you,” he responded as he poured a beer for someone further down the counter. “So it’s fair game.”

Minseok laughed. “Well played. I’m Minseok. What’s your name?”

“Sehun,” the bartender responded before being distracted away by another customer.

Minseok turned his gaze to the dancers on the stage, the way the muscles rippled under their skin as they grinded against the poles, the floor, each other, and some of the lucky patrons. The air was full of sexual energy, and Minseok was hungry. He hadn’t had a stable source of energy in years, and he hadn’t been as lucky of a hunter recently. He had been surviving on the latent sexual energy at strip clubs for days now, but he would need some real sustenance soon.

One of the dancers peeled the shirt from his chest, revealing a bronzed chest and perfectly chiseled abs, and the crowd erupted in cheers. Minseok inhaled deeply, salivating. He finished his drink to give his mouth something to do as he soaked in the energy that kept him alive and anchored to this plane of existence.

He looked back over at the bar and saw that there was another whiskey sitting in front of him.

“On me,” Sehun said with a wink.

As Minseok lifted the glass, he saw the writing on the cocktail napkin beneath, the ink quickly bleeding together as the condensation from the glass soaked into the paper.

_ I’m off in half an hour. _

…

Sehun’s voice was breathy as they made out against his car, parked a couple blocks away from the club. It was still warm out, and Minseok could feel the light sheen of sweat on Sehun’s chest as he palmed him through his shirt, eliciting needy sounds and rutting against his leg.

“Why are you so fucking hot?” Sehun asked in between kisses. His hair was damp with sweat between Minseok’s fingers.

Minseok felt guilt curl in the pit of his belly. Of course Sehun would find him irresistible, especially once the positive feedback loop, of sexual arousal feeding his powers feeding even more arousal, had begun. Sexual energy was his lifeblood, after all.

But he comforted himself with the thought that Sehun had actually been the one to initiate this encounter. And with any luck, Minseok would be able to disappear in the morning and leave Sehun none the wiser, if perhaps unable to achieve the same level of sexual satisfaction ever again in his life.

It sounded bad when you put it like that, but that was the curse of sleeping with an incubus.

“My place or yours?” he asked as he wriggled a hand down Sehun’s pants to palm his ample ass.

Sehun moaned and Minseok felt a palm rubbing against his erection. “I can’t wait. Can I suck you off now?”

Minseok couldn’t help a groan from escaping and he fumbled for the handle of the car door. “Your wish is my command.”

They fell into the backseat, Minseok on top. He felt Sehun’s fingers undoing his fly and pulling his dick out. He struggled to find a comfortable position in the car as Sehun maneuvered himself into position.

“Looks delicious,” Sehun moaned.

“You’re making me nervous,” Minseok laughed as he watched Sehun’s slender fingers exploring his cock.

Sehun responded by sucking the tip into his mouth, and Minseok moaned and braced himself against the car window. He hoped Sehun would at least be up for a few rounds afterwards; he was hungry and Sehun was laid out in front of him like an exquisite multicourse meal, flushed pink and trembling.

“You look pretty like that,” he said, grabbing a fist of Sehun’s hair once he had adjusted.

Sehun let out a high-pitched, desperate moan, letting Minseok manhandle him.

_ How interesting _ . “You like that, slut?”

Minseok could see how flushed Sehun’s cheeks were, how there was moisture clinging to his eyelashes. He pulled Sehun’s mouth off of his cock and Sehun whined.

“I asked you a question,” he said.

“I like it,” Sehun said, his voice scratchy. The tip of a pink tongue darted out to lick his lips, and Minseok couldn’t resist. He leaned in for a messy kiss, his fingers still tugging on Sehun’s hair.

Sehun grabbed onto his shoulder and started rutting needily against his leg. Minseok could feel how hot and hard he was. Minseok’s mouth left Sehun’s and started making its way down his neck, sucking marks into the delicate skin around his collarbones. He pulled Sehun’s head back so his spine curved prettily and he could get access to more delicious soft skin.

“It’s hot,” Sehun complained, and Minseok tugged on the buttons of his shirt impatiently. “I want to finish you.”

Minseok yanked a little too hard, and the buttons tore off, finally freeing the beautiful pale expanse of Sehun’s chest.

“Fuck,” he laughed. “Hope that wasn’t expensive.”

Sehun fake pouted as he took the rest of the shirt off and pushed Minseok back down into the carseat. “You owe me.”

“All right,” Minseok said. “I’m sure I’ll find some way to make it up to you.”

Sehun smirked and Minseok felt his delicate fingers tugging his pants a little bit further down. He was leaking a little bit onto the bottom of his shirt, and Sehun lapped it up, swirling the head in his mouth for a bit before sinking completely down. Minseok choked on any other quips he wanted to make, and he just held onto the back of the driver’s seat as Sehun bobbed up and down, fingers digging into the flesh of Minseok’s thighs.

“I’m coming,” he warned, and Sehun just made a happy humming noise before pulling up so only his lips were around the tip of Minseok’s cock. He gave it a quick few jerks and then Minseok was spilling into his mouth. He swallowed most of it and pulled completely off when there were only a few drops left, which he let coat his mouth like the most exquisite of lip glosses.

“Fuck,” Minseok said. “You were so good. Come here.”

Sehun smiled and sat back, letting Minseok pull his own cock out from his pants. Minseok liked the way it fit in his hand. It was just as pretty as the rest of him, from his lips to the little hardened nubs of his nipples to the playful glint in his eyes.

“My place is ten minutes away,” Sehun said as Minseok started jerking him off. “How far is yours?”

“Yours is closer,” Minseok said, and sucked one of Sehun’s nipples into his mouth, rolling the other one in between his fingers.

He tasted salty but clean, so human and so fragile. Minseok could hear his ragged breaths interspersed with his low moans, and he could feel himself getting obsessed with the curve of Sehun’s neck as he threw his head back in pleasure.

Sehun’s hand tightened its grip on Minseok’s back, his fingernails digging into the skin, and then he was emptying into Minseok’s fist, his hips stuttering out the last few dredges of pleasure. He tugged on Minseok’s hair a little, and Minseok surged up for another kiss, enjoying the taste of himself on Sehun’s lips. He pulled away and brought his soiled fingers to Sehun’s mouth, shoving them inside and letting his tongue clean up his own come.

When he tried to pull away, Sehun grabbed onto his wrist and continued cleaning the rest of his hand, swirling his tongue around each finger and nibbling on the skin in between the digits.

“We should drive back,” Minseok said reluctantly. As much as he wanted to fuck all night in the car, he wanted to make sure that Sehun was at home safely at the end of all of it.

Sehun pouted again but drew away so they could move to the front of the car, Minseok wriggling his hips to get his pants back fully on. Sehun put the remains of his shirt back on and rested his hand against Minseok’s inner thigh for the entire drive back.

…

“Are you leaving?” Sehun’s voice sounded wrecked from sleep and a lot else.

Minseok ran a hand through his hair, still damp from the shower. He’d never been so tempted to stay before. They’d gone a few more rounds last night before falling asleep. Then they went another round in the early hours of the morning after Minseok woke up to get a drink of water, after which they’d fallen asleep again. It was probably past noon by now.

“I should get ready for an event tonight,” he said as he looked around for his clothes. He’d gotten a report of a resentful soul lingering in a town not far from here, and he’d planned to go check it out after replenishing his energy.

“We have time before tonight,” Sehun said playfully. “Want breakfast?”

“As tempting as that sounds, I have to drive a bit to get there,” Minseok replied.

Sehun sighed and flopped back down onto the bed. “Can I at least get a good-bye kiss then?”

Minseok smiled and finished pulling on his socks before walking back over to the bed and leaning down for a kiss. Sehun’s lips were still a little chapped as he licked into Minseok’s mouth.

“I should go,” Minseok said reluctantly, finally pulling away after a few moments.

Sehun grinned. “Does my breath smell?” A slight flush had crept into his face and down his neck during their makeout session. Minseok could see the love bites he’d left earlier that morning on his chest. They hadn’t yet blossomed into the dark purple splotches that the ones from last night already had.

Who knew when he’d get another opportunity like this? He’d might as well make the best use of the free energy, before he wouldn’t get to feed for another few weeks again. He leaned back down, dropping part of his weight onto the bed, and put his hand around Sehun’s neck.

He could feel Sehun smiling as he pulled him back down onto the bed, kicking the sheets off of his legs.

“We can make it quick,” Sehun whispered into Minseok’s ear even as his legs curled around Minseok’s waist, pulling him close enough to feel Sehun’s morning wood against his belly.

“How can you say that when you look like this?” Minseok replied teasingly. “I even got dressed again.”

“Hopefully I’ll make it worth your while.” Sehun was undoing Minseok’s pants again, tugging on his shirt to get that off as well. The clothes were flung off the bed with surprising force when he was done.

“I know what I want for breakfast,” Minseok said, swallowing Sehun’s moan with another kiss. He grabbed Sehun’s legs and pushed them up above his shoulders, pressing a kiss into the smooth skin of his inner thigh.

Sehun buried his hands in Minseok’s hair and Minseok responded by pushing his legs even further back, until Sehun’s lower torso was partially lifted off the bed.

“How did you get so flexible?” Minseok asked, sucking an appreciative hickey into Sehun’s thigh.

Sehun moaned, and Minseok watched as his toes curled in the air above them. “I do a lot of yoga. One of my friends is an instructor.”

“Good friend,” Minseok commented, and licked a fat wet stripe across Sehun’s hole. It fluttered prettily and Minseok gave it another few licks, teasing the rim with the tip of his tongue. Sehun made satisfied noises from above. Minseok loved all the sounds he made.

He licked inside, short thrusts with the tip of his tongue interspersed with gentle flicks to the rim. His fingers dug into the flesh of Sehun’s ass, and he could feel Sehun’s fingers tightening in his hair as he let out strangled noises of pleasure, shifting on the bed. He pulled away and covered the whole region with his mouth, giving a few loud wet sucks. He switched between this and more tonguing until his jaw ached and he could feel himself straining against his boxers.

“Do you want it like this?” he asked as he finally pulled away, wiping the saliva from his mouth.

“Can I flip around?” Sehun asked, out of breath.

So it wasn’t just last night and he really did prefer to take it on his front, Minseok decided. He moved away to find a condom while Sehun flipped over, clutching a pillow to his front and wiggling his ass in the air.

“Stop being so cute,” he laughed as he slid the condom on and crawled over.

Sehun laughed back at him. “I won’t stop if you keep calling me cute.”

Minseok spread some lube on his fingers and began preparing Sehun’s hole, leaning up for a kiss as his fingers scissored. Sehun let out a high-pitched moan as Minseok brushed across his prostate, and his kisses rapidly became sloppier.

After a few minutes of preparation, Minseok took his cock in his hand and rubbed it over Sehun’s rim a little, causing him to whine and push back for more friction. Minseok pressed him down with his body and slid two fingers into Sehun’s mouth for him to suck on.

“You’re such a tease,” Sehun mumbled through the fingers in his mouth.

“You like it,” Minseok whispered back before finally rolling a condom on and sliding inside.

Sehun made an appreciative noise, his body arching into the bed and his fingers twisting in the sheets. Minseok did a few shallow thrusts before picking up a good rhythm, a little gasp coming out of Sehun’s mouth with each impact. Minseok reached up and slotted a hand around Sehun’s throat, under his jaw, and pulled his head away from the bed, creating an even more perfect angle as Sehun became even louder.

“Fuck,” Minseok said as he watched. “You’re so good for me.”

Sehun smiled, his eyes starting to drift closed, and Minseok could feel himself getting close. He let go of Sehun’s throat and Sehun gasped out a few heaving breaths, turning his face to the side as he collapsed back onto the bed. Minseok picked up the pace and it only took a few more thrusts before he was emptying into the condom, turning Sehun back over so he could give a last few sucks on his cock. Sehun came onto his own stomach and pulled Minseok down into his embrace, refusing to let go.

“Let me just have these last few moments,” he whispered breathlessly, “before you leave.”

Minseok felt his insides give a guilty flip. He didn’t respond with words, just gave Sehun a little squeeze and let himself drift off for a few moments.

When Sehun was asleep, he quietly got dressed and slipped out, feeling confused and conflicted.

…

Minseok didn’t go to check out the resentful soul that night. Instead he ordered takeout and ate it while scrolling around Google Maps, trying to find some excuse to be back in Sehun’s neighborhood.

There was no rule per se against sleeping with the same human more than once, but Minseok had made it a personal rule of his. Nothing good came out of getting too attached to a human, no matter how good an energy source they were. And only bad could come out of that human getting attached to him. He basked in his newly obtained energy and debated going back to the strip club even before he’d run out.

“I’m fucked,” he complained in his monthly check-in with Jongin, and the god of shadows only laughed, telling him to look into the resentful soul at some point while his energy level was still high.

…

“You look fucked,” Joy said when Sehun showed up for their weekly yoga session, rubbing sleep from his eyes.

“I have failed you,” he complained. “I let the most perfect man slip right through my fingers, just because I fell asleep.”

Joy  _ tsk _ ed as she spread out her mat next to Sehun’s, tying her hair up into a ponytail. “Tell me all the details after the flow.”

Sehun agreed and copied Joy in sitting down on the mat. He winced a couple of times as she led them through the movements. There were a few muscles he hadn’t used in a while, and a few others that had been too well-used the previous day. But soon his mind was cleared of the discomfort and he was able to simply relish the feeling of skin stretching over muscle, the way his breath whooshed in and out of him so steadily.

“Namaste,” Joy said, and Sehun repeated after her. By then the sun was already quite high and burning away the morning dew on the grass around them. They stretched out their toes among the grass and listened to the birds chirping as they circled around the park pond.

“So,” Sehun said, and Joy smiled for him to continue. “I met him at work.”

Joy wrinkled her nose. “Is he a dancer?”

Sehun flapped his hand at her. “No, he was a customer. He spent most of his time by the bar; that’s how I noticed him.”

“What’s he like?” she asked, letting her hair down and shaking it out so it fell in perfect dark curls around her shoulders.

Sehun took a moment to think. “He’s probably four or five years older than me. He’s pretty short, but he’s quite solid. He has a six pack, dark brown hair. He’s very assertive, but he was also really gentle. And he looked a little well off, but not too well off. He drives a silver Volvo.”

“And?”

Sehun heaved a huge sigh. “And he was  _ amazing _ in bed. We went like --” he counted on his fingers “-- six rounds in total?”

Joy grimaced for a split second, and Sehun stuck his tongue out at her.

“Anyway,” he continued, “he was about to leave in the morning, but I tempted him back for another round. But then I fell asleep before I could whip out the puppy dog eyes and ask him for his number.”

“Rookie mistake,” Joy sighed, pulling her phone out of her bag. “What did you say his name was again?”

“I didn’t,” Sehun said. “It’s Minseok.”

She scrolled for a few moments as Sehun watched a couple with a dog walk across the pond’s bridge.

“I can’t find him,” she admitted finally.

Sehun groaned and flopped back against his mat. “How could such a tragedy happen to me? I haven’t sinned  _ too _ much. How could God punish me like this?”

Joy stifled a laugh in her fist. “I can think of a few of your big sins off the top of my head.”

Sehun grumbled noisily.

“There will be other guys,” she said encouragingly. “Who could resist you?”

That was just it though. Sehun knew there would be others, and he still couldn’t be satisfied.

“There was something different about him,” he said. “I can’t put my finger on it.”

“You mean besides the mind-blowing sex?” Joy teased.

Sehun rolled his eyes. “Yes, Joy, besides the mind-blowing, out-of-this-world, once-in-a-lifetime sex.”

Joy coughed loudly. “Well, maybe he’ll come around the club again.”

“Maybe.” Sehun sat up on his mat. “Want to grab some coffee?”

…

The trail of the resentful soul went cold at a donut shop on one of the streets parallel to the town’s main commercial avenue. Minseok asked around a little afterwards, but all he could find out was that a high schooler had died in a drunk driving accident a few months back. When he checked the name, he saw that her soul had already passed safely through Limbo. He bought a box of donut holes and decided to make a day of it, poking around some of the town’s old neighborhoods and even taking a stroll through the graveyard. He could sense nothing out of the ordinary, except perhaps the uncomfortable feeling of being in the placid suburbs.

He headed back to the city in time for a going-away party at Irene’s house. One of her exorcists had just released his last soul, and would soon be heading to Limbo to be free of his mortal chains. Minseok thought of the exorcists under his own guidance, and decided that perhaps he should pay them a little more attention. None of them had been able to leave the mortal world recently.

“How was your day?” She greeted him with a kiss on the cheek when he arrived bearing Prosecco.

He shrugged. “Couldn’t find a good lead. I’ll try increasing the search area next week, but I’ll need some more energy first.”

“You poor thing,” she cooed as she put the bottle in the fridge. “You should’ve picked a female body. They’re so much easier to use.”

He laughed. “I like this body. It reminds me of the one I had before.”

“Suit yourself,” she replied, long hair swinging behind her as she led him into the living room, where the rest of the guests had gathered. “Don’t worry too much about this case, though. Sometimes they just resolve themselves.”

“Hopefully,” he sighed.

There was some lively debate about a recent movie in one of the corners of the living room, and some of the exorcists, both Minseok’s and Irene’s, were playing a video game in another corner. Minseok recognized only one other soul eater.

“What’s she doing here?” he asked in surprise.

Irene scrunched her nose prettily. “She mentioned to Jongin that she would be in the area, so I invited her. She hasn’t been taking any new exorcists recently, so I thought it would be good for her to meet some of ours.”

“I see.”

Taeyeon was one of the oldest soul eaters that Minseok knew, and one of the most powerful as well. She still obtained her spiritual energy through fear, rather than sex. She was what the humans called a vampire. From what he knew, she usually kept to herself, when she wasn’t hunting. He wondered what had drawn her out into the society of other heavy souls. She tucked a lock of ash gray hair behind her ear and smiled at something one of the exorcists had said, exposing sharp incisors. She was really quite beautiful, but not in that hard vampire way. She was beautiful in a soft way, enough to be a succubus like Irene.

He was soon distracted by the entrance of the guest of honor, who had recently freed a soul that was trapped in the mortal world by lingering family drama. He demanded that everyone take shots of his fancy vodka from Maine, and the room was soon full of laughter and flailing limbs. Minseok drank with the others and enjoyed himself and forgot about work. That would be a problem for himself tomorrow.

…

Sehun poured the man’s cheap vodka and pointed a thumb at the sign on the wall.

_ NO HITTING ON BARTENDERS _

The man rolled his eyes, scooping up his drink, and left. Sehun resumed polishing some glasses, his eyes darting over to the stage every so often. There was some kind of theme that night that he couldn’t discern, and he kept looking up to see if he could guess it. But no matter how many times his eyes slid over the chiseled bodies on stage, he still couldn’t forget Minseok.

He really needed to get laid. He ran through a mental list of potential fuck buddies and decided on a rank ordering of who to message for when he got off work. Satisfied with that decision, he resumed fantasizing about Minseok pinning him down and fucking him slow against the surface of the bar.

He served another few guests before taking his break in the back. He scrolled through his contacts and sent a few messages. Just as he was about to put his phone away, he received a text from Joy.

_ drinking with some friends, want to meet up with us after your shift is over? _

He debated for a few moments in his head.

_ any one of you trying to get laid? _

The response came back only a few seconds later.

_ lol, you’re insatiable but ya i think yeri is _

Sehun grinned, then texted back a quick  _ sure, lmk when you’re here _ before heading back to the bar.

He soon struck up a fun conversation with the other bartender, and the rest of the night passed by smoothly. He grabbed his share of the tips and waved good-bye as he loosened his tie and headed outside to wait for Joy and her friends.

She arrived with a few girls, a couple that Sehun recognized from her sorority, and one guy. He looked very straight, and Sehun wrinkled his nose and gave Joy a pointed look. She motioned with her eyes towards one of the other girls, her short blonde hair showing a little bit of brown at the roots. So it was a boyfriend. He could deal with that.

“I missed you!” Yeri squealed when she saw him, wrapping her arms around his neck. Her long chestnut hair tickled his face. Sehun liked her; she was fun.

They piled into the Uber to head to another part of town. Sehun felt sorry for the driver, having to deal with the girls’ drunken banter, but he figured Joy would probably tip him well. He caught up with Yeri for most of the ride.

The first bar they went to was loud and crowded and they only danced for a little bit before moving on to the next one. They lost one of Joy’s friends, who had spotted an old friend on the dance floor. The next bar was calmer, and Sehun wolfed down some curly fries before he got too hangry. They people watched and argued playfully about their favorites, then started gossiping about what some of their old college friends were up to. It’d been a long time since Sehun had a night like that, and he was glad for it. Sometimes he felt too old.

After they’d been there for a while, Sehun spotted a good candidate for Yeri and went to the bar to stand next to him and order more drinks in his straightest voice.

“Can you handle that by yourself?” the bartender asked as Sehun tried to fit the drinks in his hands, and he laughed in response.

“Probably not.” He glanced over at the target, who was scrolling absentmindedly on his phone. Sehun wondered if he’d been ditched. “Mind giving me a hand?”

He looked up with startled eyes, glanced over at where Sehun was pointed, and nodded. “Sure.”

“Thanks.” Sehun nodded to the remaining two drinks and they walked back to the table. He silently congratulated himself on his selection. He was the preppy white kind that Yeri was into at the moment. He probably played lacrosse or something like that in college.

“Are you here alone?” Joy asked with a smile as she accepted her drink from him. “Join us!”

He smiled sheepishly and slid into the booth next to Yeri, who had just fixed her lip gloss. Sehun got back in his seat next to Joy and admired his handiwork. They got along well, brushing shoulders and carrying on their own little conversation. After everyone had finished their drinks, Joy glanced at her phone.

“Want to head out?” she asked. “The other place we wanted to go to closes kinda soon.”

Sehun took a few swallows of water and nodded. He was ready to find a dick to sit on for tonight.

“I’m a little tired,” Yeri said. “You guys go ahead. I’ll head back after this.”

Down one more person, they headed towards the next place. The cool night air was refreshing after spending so long indoors. There were still a considerable number of people inside when they arrived, and they all took shots before settling into their seats, the boyfriend looking around nervously. Sehun exchanged a look with Joy and they both hid smiles behind their hands.

“I’ll wing for you now that Yeri is gone,” Joy said with a smirk, giving him a playful hit with the back of her hand. “What’s on the menu tonight?”

“Someone shorter,” Sehun said thoughtfully. “Dark hair.”

Joy raised a knowing eyebrow. “Alright.”

They rejoined the rest of the conversation, which had turned to an upcoming music festival. Sehun’s eyes slid over the room lazily as the girls chatted about where they were getting their outfits from. They asked his opinion on a few choices, and he held their phones up next to their faces, squinting at the screens.

“I think this one will suit your body type, Joy,” he said, pointing to a playsuit that precisely outlined the curves of the model’s ass. She nodded and tapped on the heart icon.

The boyfriend needed to use the bathroom, and that reminded Sehun that he also needed to go, so they went together and left the appropriate one urinal space in between themselves. As Sehun was washing his hands, he spotted the guy next to him making flirty eyes at him. He did a quick slide up and down his body. He was wearing a shirt that outlined the hard outline of his pecs, and he was a touch taller than Minseok was.

The boyfriend quickly headed out as the guy sidled a bit closer, a finger hooking itself into one of the loops of his jeans. Sehun usually didn’t prefer a hook-up to be so assertive so quickly, but he was a bit frustrated at the moment, and the way his dark eyes flashed reminded him of Minseok. Besides, he was getting a bit tired. Sehun leaned in for a kiss, receiving a pleasant surprise in the form of a tongue piercing.

“Want to head out of here?” the stranger asked.

At Sehun’s nod, he grabbed his wrist and they headed out of the bathroom. He had enough time to wave at Joy and get an eye roll in response before they emerged into the street, the stranger pulling him into the darkness of a store opening and pressing him against the wall for another kiss.

“My place or yours?” he asked in between kisses, but strangely, he felt his eyelids drooping, and the last thing he remembered was a flash of red in the darkness of the stranger’s eyes.

…

Minseok was hungry, and after the feast he’d had courtesy of Sehun, nothing else seemed as appetizing. After the little flicker of disappointment when he saw that Sehun wasn’t behind the bar, he’d soaked in what sexual energy he could from the club and then headed out. He stood in a dark storefront and checked his phone. Maybe Irene wanted to go hunting together. That would give him more motivation, probably.

“What’s up?” she answered.

“Want to go hunting? I’ve been feeling a bit out of it lately.”

He could hear her sigh over the line. “Sure, where are you now?”

“Outside a club downtown.”

“I know just the spot nearby. There’s enough energy that you don’t even need to put out. I’ll text you the address.”

“Thanks,” Minseok said. He must’ve sounded really out of it for her to suggest somewhere like that. It’d be good to check out somewhere new, though.

He only watched the barhoppers for a few minutes before he heard a honk, and Irene was peering at him through the window of her BMW. It was as beautiful and as glamorous as she was.

“Get in, loser.”

He slid into the passenger seat and clicked the seat belt. “Sorry for making you come out here.”

“I was in the area,” she said as she pulled back onto the street.

“How’d you find out about this place?”

“Actually, Taeyeon told me about it.”

That was surprising. “How does she know about it?”

Irene shrugged. “Maybe she’s thinking of switching her energy source? She’s been hanging around a lot of our hunting spots recently. I haven’t actually asked her since we’re not that close.”

Minseok thought about it for a moment, then decided, “I guess we all have to get on board with the times sooner or later.”

Irene smiled. “I told you it was a good idea, didn’t I?”

“Yeah.” Irene had become a soul eater around the same time that he had, and she’d been the one to convince him to become an incubus rather than one of the other, more popular options. It ended up working out nicely for both of them: nobody really heard of vampires or messiahs anymore, but sex was getting trendier and trendier.

“We’re here,” Irene announced as she pulled into a parking garage. “It’s just across the street.”

Minseok glanced at the bar. It was quite busy. “What kind of place is it?”

Irene grinned. “It’s full of college students, of course. You’d better ditch that watch, by the way. Looks too expensive.”

Minseok reluctantly tucked his watch away in the glove compartment and they got out of the car together.

…

Sehun’s bleary eyes tried to focus on the clock next to the bed, but his vision kept blurring. What had happened to him? When he finally succeeded in checking the time he realized that it was already well into the next afternoon. He struggled to sit up and take in his surroundings.

It was a hotel room, but he had no idea where. He didn’t remember how he’d gotten there. He tried to get off the bed and look out the window, but his limbs were too heavy. He could move his hands a little, but it was suddenly unfathomably difficult to control his arms and legs.

He was beginning to panic. He tried to grab his phone from his pocket but it was nowhere to be found. Of course, whoever had done this to him would have taken it. At least he didn’t seem to be hurt, aside from the fact that he couldn’t move. He tried to call out for help, but the sound seemed to have been swallowed by the air. He closed his eyes to try to calm himself, but it didn’t work. He was starting to hyperventilate.

He dug his fingers into his palms until his mind had cleared, taking deep, steady breaths like Joy always said to do. Keeping the steady one-two-three beat of breathing in for one and breathing out for two was so much more difficult than usual, but somehow he managed.

When he was calm again, he tried to think things through logically. Would anyone be looking for him? The answer was probably no. Joy had seen him leave, smiling and waving, so she wouldn’t think anything was off. And the boyfriend probably didn’t notice anything off either. But the more Sehun thought about it, the more he realized how odd it was. When he thought it through dispassionately, he saw all the warning flags. Had he really been that drunk? He never would’ve gone with that guy if he was in his right mind. Maybe there had been something in his drink?

He shook his head. That didn’t make any sense. Why would anyone want to target him? His only hope now was that when he didn’t show up for his yoga session with Joy, she would figure out what had happened and somehow the police would be able to track him down. But that still depended on where exactly he was.

He sighed. He wished his captor would at least show up so he would have information.

As if on cue, the hotel door clicked open and a woman appeared. She was very beautiful, with wide eyes and fair skin, ash gray hair falling over bare shoulders. She smiled when she saw him, her red lips parting to expose large incisors.

…

The door clicked shut behind Minseok as he headed out to grab some groceries. He felt a lot better after the night out with Irene, and he was ready to take on another case that Jongin had sent over a few days ago.

It was warm out and he decided to walk to the store instead of driving. He only needed a few things anyway. He tried to think of what he wanted for dinner as he perused the produce aisles. He was deciding between two varieties of tomatoes when he got a phone call.

“Hello?” he picked up without checking who it was.

“Hello,” came a familiar voice from the other end. “Are you busy now?”

“Taeyeon?” he asked. “How did you get this number?”

“Irene gave it to me,” she replied. “You’ll want to meet me now if you aren’t terribly busy. I’ll text you the name of the hotel.”

Minseok’s brow furrowed as he tried to think of what she could possibly need him for.

“Is it urgent?”

“Yes.”

He ditched his basket of groceries among the onions and ran out of the store, already calling an Uber. He could feel sweat starting to bead on his forehead.

…

Sehun squirmed on the bed, fighting to lift his deadened limbs, as she drew closer. His neck was moist with sweat and he could almost taste his fear in the air. She seemed to smile at the expression on her face, the redness of her lips growing deeper.

She placed a hand gently on his knee, and all of a sudden he could move. He cried out and leapt off of the bed, away from her.

“It’s okay,” she said reassuringly. Her voice was softer than it had been when she was speaking on the phone earlier. “I’ve called Minseok. He’s on his way.”

“What?” He backed up against the wall and eyed the exit. He had spotted a dark figure standing outside the door, and now that figure entered the room. It was an unfamiliar man.

Her brow wrinkled. “He didn’t tell you his name?”

“What?” he repeated, then shook his head. “No, I know who that is. But who are you?”

“I’m Taeyeon. I’m a colleague of Minseok’s. Perhaps you should sit down. There’s quite a bit to explain.”

He cleared his throat. “I’d prefer to leave now. Where’s my phone?”

At a nod from Taeyeon, the man walked over and took something out of his pocket, placing it on the desk near Sehun. Sehun snatched up his phone and scrolled through the notifications. Joy had tried to call him multiple times. Her first text was sent at 1AM.

_ send me your location when you get there, you left kinda suddenly _

_ bump _

_ sehun are you okay _

_ hellooooo _

_ don’t scare me, answer me!!! _

_ sehun _

_ you better show up for yoga loser _

_ sehun?? _

“I wouldn’t call anyone if I were you,” Taeyeon said, as if she could sense his finger hovering over the phone icon. “You should listen first.”

Her eyes looked sincere. And she’d been the one that freed him from… whatever that was. He reluctantly sat down at the desk and she brought him a glass of water and a slice of toast on a room service plate. She placed a hand on his shoulder, and it was so comforting that Sehun leaned into it as he drank and ate.

“I need to go to the bathroom,” he said when he was done.

“Of course,” she said, and gave him a hand up. He felt so confused and vulnerable, it happened as if on reflex. He reached out for a hug and she closed her arms around him, wrapping him in her warm body. He sighed and relaxed into the embrace. There was something about her soft female body that put him at ease. She was so gentle.

“Everything will be fine,” she said softly, one of her hands slowly patting his back.

…

An unfamiliar exorcist let him into the room. There was someone on the couch in the sitting room, his eyes unseeing as though under some sort of spiritual bond, but Minseok’s attention was soon distracted by the sight of Taeyeon’s arms wrapped around Sehun’s body. He brushed the exorcist aside and took two long strides over to the bedroom, knocking her out of the way and grabbing Sehun’s body in his own arms. He turned him this way and that, looking for the bite marks.

“You’re welcome,” Taeyeon said with a huff as she sat back on the bed primly.

“What did you do to him?” Minseok demanded. Sehun’s eyelids were drooping and there was a blissed-out smile on his lips.

“I just used a bit of relaxing spiritual energy,” she said. “He was all worked up. I thought it would be better to relax him until you got here. It’ll wear off in a few seconds.”

“What exactly happened?” he asked, still suspicious.

Taeyeon opened her mouth to reply, but at that moment Sehun seemed to snap out of his trance and his eyes widened in recognition.

“Minseok?”

He smiled back weakly. “It’s me.”

He saw Sehun’s eyes brim with tears before he was being hugged, hard. That stung, because he knew Sehun’s feelings of him would be changing shortly. They stood there, hugging, for a few moments until Sehun’s breathing calmed down and he pulled away, wiping the tears from his face.

“Why don’t you both sit?” Taeyeon said, moving away from the bed so they could sit there.

“I need to go to the bathroom,” Sehun said quietly, and Minseok nodded at him to go.

Once the door had closed, Minseok turned his gaze back on Taeyeon. “Explain yourself.”

She sighed. “You saw the one on the couch?”

Minseok nodded.

“I’ve been suspicious of him for a while. He’s been hanging around the usual hunting spots for soul eaters, but he is neither a soul eater nor an exorcist. My best guess is that he’s some sort of minor godling.”

Minseok let out a whoosh of air. If Taeyeon had been able to restrain a god, no matter how insignificant, she was truly powerful.

“I’ve been following him,” she continued, “but this is the first time he’s acted. I don’t know why he’s trying to find soul eaters, but I intend to find out.”

Minseok’s heart sank in realization. “He targeted Sehun because he realized that I’d fed from him.”

Taeyeon nodded. “For some reason, he hoped to find you through Sehun.”

The bathroom door re-opened and Sehun emerged, sitting back on the bed next to Minseok. His eyes darted unsteadily between him and Taeyeon as he adjusted his position on the bed, as if afraid to touch Minseok.

“I’ll report this to Jongin,” Taeyeon said. “He’ll have a plan. But for now I think we should all lie low.”

Minseok nodded in agreement. “Thank you.”

She smiled back at him. “I’ll be taking the godling with me. Stay in touch.”

The exorcist followed her out of the hotel room and Minseok let out a long breath.

“What just happened?” Sehun asked softly.

Minseok stood; it felt weird to sit while explaining it all. He had no idea how Sehun would take it. He took a deep breath, squaring his stance, and looked into Sehun’s eyes, narrow with fear and suspicion. “I’m an incubus.”

…

Minseok’s eyes were determined as he continued, “I get spiritual energy from sex. Why do I need spiritual energy? Well, that’s a whole other story.”

“So when we…” Sehun trailed off. It all sounded so ridiculous. How did it end up like this?

Minseok winced. “Yes, I got energy from you. And when that happens, we leave something called a spiritual footprint. It can be seen by other beings like us. And for some reason, that man that took you was looking for me, or for people like me. He was trying to use you to find me. But luckily, Taeyeon found you instead.”

Sehun’s mouth was dry. “What would he have done to me?”

Minseok paused. “Probably nothing. A lot of incubi feed from the same person more than once, so he probably hoped that I would come looking for you.”

Sehun thought for a moment. “But you don’t feed from the same person more than once?”

Another wince. “No, I try not to.”

Sehun let out a deep breath. There was a strange swirl of emotions in his belly, rising up through his chest and suffocating him.

“What will happen next? Can I go home now?”

“Yes,” Minseok said slowly. “But I don’t know if more of them will come after you. I’d feel better if I could come with you and wait outside in case anything happens. In the meantime, Taeyeon will investigate who he is. Hopefully our boss will be able to figure something out.”

Sehun hesitated. “What exactly  _ is _ Taeyeon?”

“She’s a vampire,” Minseok replied. “She’s like me, but she gets her energy from…”

“Blood,” Sehun finished.

“In a way,” Minseok said.

Sehun shuddered and sat staring at his hands for a long time.

“How about I take you home?” Minseok suggested after a while, and Sehun nodded. He was so tired.

…

Minseok rubbed at his eyes with the heel of his hand. He was so tired. He’d asked Irene to watch Sehun’s apartment for an hour while he went back to his own place to get his car and some food, but otherwise he’d been sitting in front of Sehun’s apartment building, watching and waiting for something to happen.

He hadn’t heard anything more from Taeyeon, which could either be good or bad news, but he hadn’t been able to sense any spiritual energy in the area, so he’d relaxed a bit since that afternoon. He watched some teenagers skating on the sidewalk, wondering when it would be safe to leave Sehun alone. He was going to rapidly use up his spiritual energy like this, and he would need to feed sooner or later.

His phone rang. It was Sehun.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah.” He sounded like he’d just woken up from a nap, and his voice wavered slightly. “I’m going to invite a friend over.”

Minseok swallowed guiltily. Of course Sehun would want the companionship of another mortal.

“Just don’t tell them about everything,” Minseok said.

Sehun was silent, and Minseok sighed.

“It’s just that the more people know, the more dangerous it is,” he explained. “It’s better for them if they don’t know.”

“Okay,” Sehun said after a pause.

Half an hour later, a young woman appeared and stared at his car for a long moment before disappearing into the building. Minseok felt guilty and confused. He called Irene.

“Heard anything?” she asked.

“Nothing,” he said with a sigh. “Who would want to find soul eaters?”

She made a thinking noise. “It smells like a god’s trick.”

Minseok agreed. “Hopefully we don’t get too ensnared in someone else’s trap.”

…

The only explanation was that he’d somehow gotten ensnared in some underworld dealings. He must’ve gotten drugged somehow. But his wallet was untouched, and his phone also seemed untouched, and he was completely fine except for the confusion swirling in his head. And Minseok hadn’t asked a lot of him at all, just that he could wait outside on the street. Although Sehun supposed he hadn’t asked Minseok to go out yet.

The doorbell rang and Sehun went to answer it.

Joy’s voice was thick -- “You scared me!” -- when she flung her arms around him. She squeezed him tight and he felt better immediately.

“What happened?” she asked when they were both seated on the couch with some tea.

Sehun tried to make his voice nonchalant. “I was just really dumb and dropped my phone in the toilet. It was out of commission until I could go to the store.”

Joy narrowed her eyes. “I came here in the morning too and you weren’t here.”

“We went out for breakfast,” he said. He let out a loud groan and continued, “It’s really embarrassing, okay? I was just really dumb.”

At the return of his usual playful self, she seemed much reassured. “Okay. Next time don’t just ditch us like that though! Sana’s boyfriend was acting kinda weird and dicky after you left.”

Sehun pouted. “Sorry. I was getting some weird vibes from him.”

Joy twirled a strand of her hair around one of her fingers. “Yeah, I think he’s getting better though.”

“It won’t happen again,” Sehun promised, and everything was better just like that.

After ordering some pizza and watching some Netflix and cuddling for a bit, Sehun felt like himself again. The events of the previous day just seemed like a bad fever dream. Joy gave him a hug good-bye and guilted him into an extra few yoga sessions in the upcoming weeks.

Once he was alone, he started to feel doubt again. He called Minseok again.

“Do you want to come upstairs?” he asked. “I have more questions.”

“I’ll be right there.”

Minseok looked tired when Sehun opened the door, and he felt guilty. They both sat at the dining table and Sehun played with his fingernails.

“You owe me more of an explanation,” he said. “You can’t just expect me to believe all of this without any proof.”

Minseok nodded, as if he had expected the question. It was weird. Sehun knew he should mistrust him, but instead he felt strangely at ease with him around.

“I’m going to show you something,” he said slowly. “You’re not going to like it, but afterwards you’ll know for sure.”

Sehun was scared, but he nodded anyway.

Minseok took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Sehun wasn’t sure what was supposed to happen. It looked like he was just sitting there. But as he looked, the outline of his body became a bit hazier, and the contours of the room seemed fuzzier. Then there was an enormous whoosh of air, and Sehun’s hearing exploded in ringing. Where Minseok had previously sat, there was a contorting mass of black, forming into grotesque faces or grasping hands, howling in pain and anguish. They were angry and powerful, but also so pitiful, so wretched. Somewhere, deep inside of him, Sehun realized what he was looking at. Perhaps there was something inside of him that recognized its counterpart in the terrible  _ thing _ sitting across from him. He wouldn’t be able to put it into words, but he knew it for what it was, on the rawest level of his soul.

He thought he screamed. He wanted to stop seeing, but he couldn’t bring himself to close his eyes. Then there was another whoosh of air and the lines of the room slowly reformed, and the terrifying monster changed back into Minseok. His eyes were sad. Sehun could feel himself panicking again, and he tried to curl into himself, but at the feeling of Minseok’s hand on his own, he slowly started relaxing again.

It took a long time for his breathing to finally return to normal. When it did, Minseok drew his hand away and began talking softly, gently.

“I just showed you the contents of my soul vault. Every soul eater has one. That’s technically what I am. You see, when people die, their soul tries to move on. But some souls are so heavy and wretched that they can’t move on, and they become soul eaters. The job of soul eaters is to consume resentful souls that linger in the mortal world, so that they don’t disturb the balance there. Every soul we eat is trapped in our soul vault.”

“The soul vault requires a lot of energy to keep shut. Otherwise, the resentful souls will pour out back into the mortal world, and we will be erased from the mortal world as well. It’s the worst possible fate for a soul. So we need spiritual energy to keep us alive, if you want to call it that. Some of us get it through sex. Others get it through other emotions, like fear. That’s what Taeyeon does.”

He hesitated. “We can use our spiritual energy for certain other things too. We can send some of it into a mortal’s body to help guide their emotions. That’s what Taeyeon did to you earlier, and that’s what I did to you just now, to help you calm down. That’s probably also what the man that trapped you did. He used spiritual energy to keep you from escaping.”

Sehun took a few deep, steadying breaths, watching the seagulls circling outside his window. He listened to Minseok’s even breathing and tried to wrap his head around everything that had just happened. It wasn’t even that what Minseok had said was unbelievable. It was that it was unbelievable, yet Sehun knew it was perfectly true.

“Can you sleep here tonight? I don’t want to be alone.”

…

It had taken a while for Sehun to fall asleep. Minseok was tempted to give him a little help, but he decided against it. Now Sehun’s breath was steady and even, his face turned into the pillow and one of his arms curled around Minseok’s waist.

He’d finally heard from Taeyeon, who said that the godling hadn’t been able to provide any leads. It was clear that he was working for someone, but they couldn’t figure out who. Jongin was holding him captive for the time being, and all of the soul eaters in the mortal world had been notified. It was no small feat, even for the god that wielded the power of teleportation.

Minseok could feel himself getting weaker, too. It had taken a considerable amount of energy to surface his soul vault and to calm Sehun and to keep watch for other beings using spiritual energy. He didn’t know when he would be able to feed, though. Keeping Sehun safe was more important.

He let himself sleep. The appearance of a being of spiritual energy would wake him, and he needed to conserve his energy for whatever was to come next.

…

The next morning, Minseok woke before Sehun and went to the kitchen to make them some breakfast. He wasn’t sure if Sehun had anywhere to be, so he woke him up once the food was ready, around eight.

Sehun woke slowly, and for a brief moment he smiled when he saw Minseok’s face, before it slid back into measured indifference.

“Do you have to be anywhere?” he asked. “I made breakfast.”

Sehun yawned and got out of bed. “It’s fine, I don’t have anything. What did you make?”

“Hopefully waffles are good?”

“Smells good,” Sehun said with a smile, going to the bathroom to wash up.

When he emerged with his hair fluffy from the shower, he asked, “Do you need a change of clothes?”

“I have some in my car,” Minseok responded. “But thanks.”

They ate together quietly before Minseok got a call from Irene.

“What’s up?”

“I went to deal with that case you told me about,” she said, “but it’s really weird. It’s just like what you said happened to you last time. When I got there, there were no leads, and it seemed as if the soul just disappeared.”

“That is weird,” Minseok admitted.

“I have a theory,” Irene said. “Resentful souls usually wander close to the place where their resentment stems from, right? Like an anchor.”

“Right.”

“Well, there are cases in which that doesn’t happen. When a mortal is killed by a god, their soul usually becomes resentful and lingers in the mortal world, but without any anchor. What if some godling is killing people in an attempt to lure us in?”

“What?” Minseok’s voice was loud, and startled Sehun. He lowered his voice. “You need to get out of there, then.”

“It’s fine,” Irene said. “I called Jongin and he got me out of there. But the problem is, if they were really trying to lure us in, why are they so bad at it? They should’ve caught you last time, or me this time.”

“Maybe they can’t control the souls,” Minseok said. “Gods aren’t supposed to interfere in the affairs of souls, so they probably aren’t that good at it either.”

“Maybe,” Irene said, but she still sounded doubtful. “Anyway, I just wanted to check in on you. Do you need me to swap places with you so you can hunt?”

Minseok hesitated. He was reluctant to leave Sehun, even if it was with Irene. “I’ll be fine for a few more days. Hopefully everything gets resolved by then.”

Irene was silent for a moment. “Okay. But don’t push yourself too far.”

“I won’t.”

He hung up and went to help Sehun with the dishes.

“You can stay here for the next few days,” Sehun said as he handed Minseok the dishes to dry. “I don’t have another shift at the bar until the weekend, and I usually work from home otherwise.”

Minseok smiled. “Thanks, Sehun. I’m sorry for involving you in this.”

…

The next few days were peaceful. Sehun was a freelance website designer, and he worked at his laptop in the mornings while Minseok checked in with Irene and with the exorcists under his guidance. They switched off cooking lunch or ordering in, and then Sehun worked for a little bit longer in the afternoon before relaxing for the rest of the day. Minseok liked to watch him tapping away at the keys, his glasses perched low on his nose as he thought about something. He could feel his spiritual energy waning slowly, but waning nonetheless.

Sehun was naturally cheerful, and they soon became friends rather than awkward acquaintances. They liked to tease each other, and Sehun was always full of conversation topics that Minseok had never thought about before. They went out for walks or to the grocery store or one time to Minseok’s apartment to grab more clothes, and always spent more time than they had planned because they would get sidetracked by everything along the way -- puppies, cute cafes, a particularly interesting tree.

Sehun was also naturally touchy, and perhaps that was why Minseok’s spiritual energy was not leaking out as fast as he thought it would. They liked to cook dinner together and eat it while watching something on TV, their legs tangled together in a blanket.

One night as they were watching  _ JoJo _ Sehun paused the end credits and grabbed one of Minseok’s hands, turning it over in his own.

“Are you hungry?” he asked, not meeting Minseok’s eyes.

“What do you mean?” Minseok replied. “We just ate.”

Sehun flushed slightly. “I mean, do you need spiritual energy?”

Minseok felt arousal curl in the pit of his belly. “I’ll go out hunting the day after tomorrow. I’ll ask Irene to come stay with you instead. You’ll like her.”

Sehun was chewing on his lower lip. “Maybe you could feed from me instead?”

Minseok shook his head. “I wouldn’t ask that of you. It’s fine, really. I’ll only be gone for a few hours, and I don’t mind.”

“I don’t mind either,” Sehun said, lifting his eyes to Minseok’s. They were soft and warm. “Really.”

Minseok sighed. Sehun’s hands were so warm. “Maybe we can talk about it tomorrow then.”

Sehun smiled in response and snuggled a bit closer, one leg crossing over Minseok’s lap.

“Are all of the soul eaters like you?” he asked. “Or are they mostly like Taeyeon?”

Minseok put his free hand on Sehun’s leg and rubbed little circles into his knee absentmindedly.

“We all choose an energy source at the beginning, and it’s pretty hard to change it, though not impossible. There have been various popular ones throughout time. Incubi and succubi are becoming more common now. Vampires used to be the most common at one point too, and before that it was messiahs.”

Sehun made a face. “Messiahs?”

Minseok laughed. “Yeah, they were really trendy at one point. They get their spiritual energy from devotion and praise. You know, like Jesus?”

Sehun’s eyes looked like they were going to pop out of his head. “Jesus was a soul eater?”

“One of the best.”

Sehun burst out laughing and couldn’t stop for a long time. “What happened to him?”

At that Minseok sobered up. “Soul eaters are bound to a mortal body, and can sustain it indefinitely given enough spiritual energy. But if the body dies because of some external cause, the soul eater is forced out of the mortal world. And all of the souls in their soul vault are released, erasing the soul from the mortal world.”

“You’ve said that before. What does erasing mean?”

“You know how when you erase a pencil mark, you can sometimes still see the original mark?”

Sehun nodded.

“It’s like that. The soul is erased from the mortal world, but they can’t really leave. And since part of them is stuck in the mortal world, they can’t move on in the normal way. So they get stuck in a weird superposition of worlds. They’re just a shadow.”

Sehun was silent for a long time before he re-started the show on the TV. He let Minseok pull him close, resting Sehun’s head on his shoulder so that he could feel his warm breath against his arm.

…

Sehun woke a bit earlier than normal and lay awake for a few minutes, Minseok’s breath warm against his side. He’d offered to sleep on the couch, but Sehun insisted that the bed was big enough for the both of them. That didn’t stop them from sleeping right next to each other, tucked into each other’s bodies like puzzle pieces.

Minseok had been sleeping for longer and longer. Sehun wondered if it was because he was getting weaker, and that made him feel guilty. He wanted Minseok to be okay, but he didn’t want him feeding from anyone else. The thought made him feel sick and confused.

He lifted Minseok’s arm from around his waist and went to take a shower. By the time he was done, Minseok was awake.

“I’ll make eggs for breakfast?”

Minseok nodded in agreement and got off the bed to take his turn in the shower. Fifteen minutes later, he emerged into the kitchen smelling like Sehun, a towel around his neck.

Sehun slid the plate of food towards him. “By the way, I have work tonight. Should I call in sick?”

Minseok shook his head, mouth full of eggs. “I’ll go with you. Unless you don’t want to go.”

“No, I think it would be good to go,” Sehun said, spreading jam on his toast.

“What time should we leave?”

“My shift starts at five,” Sehun said. “We can leave around four thirty.”

Minseok nodded. “Do you have a lot of other work today?”

“No, I’m almost done with my current project,” Sehun said. “Thankfully.”

When they were both done eating, Minseok did the dishes while Sehun took out his laptop and made himself a cup of tea. The rest of the morning passed peacefully. Minseok stepped out for a moment to take a phone call, and then made lunch. By the time it was ready, Sehun was already done with work. He stretched happily and closed his laptop, lingering in the kitchen as Minseok finished the salad.

“Any other news?” he asked.

“No,” Minseok replied. “I was just talking to one of my exorcists.”

He’d heard that before a couple of times. “What is that?”

“An exorcist is another kind of heavy soul, one that can’t move on after death. But they don’t become soul eaters. Instead, they release souls that have been trapped in the mortal world. Each one lightens their own burden, and eventually they too can move on.”

Minseok went to put the salad on the table and slid a plate with a hamburger bun on it towards Sehun. “Help yourself.”

Sehun went to get the condiments from the fridge and started putting together his burger. “So you help them? Or do they help you?”

Minseok stood next to Sehun assembling his own burger. “Soul eaters serve an advisory role for exorcists, since we’ve been around for a lot longer than they have. We can’t really help them too much, since our jobs are different, but sometimes we partner up for tasks that need spiritual energy. You saw one of Taeyeon’s exorcists the other day.”

Sehun nodded and they sat down together to eat lunch. It was really tasty. Sehun supposed with eternal life came an opportunity to perfect certain skills, cooking being one of them.

“Thanks for lunch,” he said when they were done, patting his belly in satisfaction. “Do you want to watch a movie? I’m done with work.”

They did the dishes first and then put on an action movie. Minseok pulled him close, one arm around his shoulder, and Sehun’s heart did a little pathetic leap. Whenever this happened, he was conflicted with several intertwined questions. Was Minseok only doing this because he was so starved for physical affection? Was Sehun taking advantage of the situation? Was Sehun being taken advantage of? Was Minseok somehow using spiritual energy on him?

He couldn’t focus on the movie and instead focused on the solidness of Minseok’s chest as he laid his head down. He could hear the steady beating of Minseok’s heart. It always intrigued him, the reminder that Minseok had a human body. But ever since that day, he knew that Minseok was decidedly not human. Minseok told him that his soul was becoming more attuned to the presence of spiritual energy, and that was why he could sense the soul vault inside of Minseok.

“Are you thinking about something?” Minseok asked.

Sehun sighed. “Yeah.”

Minseok seemed to understand that he didn’t want to talk about it, and they watched the movie quietly for a little bit longer. Sehun felt the arm around his shoulder draw him a little closer, Minseok’s other arm inching a little bit closer to him.

“Sehun?”

He realized he’d zoned out again. The movie was over.

“Oh, sorry,” he said, shifting in position a little.

“Do you want me to call your friend?”

“No.” Sehun wiggled around a little so he could wrap both of his arms around Minseok’s waist, nuzzling his nose into Minseok’s shoulder. “You’re so comfortable.”

He could feel Minseok’s hand petting his hair, and he sighed happily. Everything was so much simpler like this. He leaned up to tell Minseok that, but was stopped by the intensity in his eyes. He realized that Minseok was probably just as conflicted as he was. It made him seem so human.

“Minseok,” he said softly, reaching out with a hand to cup Minseok’s face.

Minseok turned into it slightly, and Sehun leaned up the rest of the way to kiss him, preparing to be stopped at any moment.

Minseok didn’t stop him then. He didn’t stop him when he adjusted his legs to straddle him, ass planted on Minseok’s upper thighs. He didn’t stop him when he licked into Minseok’s mouth, sucking on the soft flesh of his lower lip. He didn’t stop him when he dug his fingers into the hard muscle of Minseok’s back, anchoring himself in the warmth and solidness.

Instead Minseok moved his hands, big and warm, to Sehun’s ass. It felt like he was pulling him even closer, until the distinction between their bodies blurred. He mouthed hungrily over Sehun’s mouth and neck, one of his hands going up to play with Sehun’s nipples while the other one continued to knead the flesh of his ass.

Sehun could feel how hot and hard Minseok was underneath him, and he let out a pleasured moan, involuntarily bucking his hips up. Minseok responded with a moan of his own at the friction between them, his mouth momentarily distracted from sucking on Sehun’s Adam’s apple.

“I want--” Sehun began.

“I know,” Minseok said. His voice sounded husky. He let Sehun capture his lips again, and slide a hand under his shirt to paw at his chest. Sehun didn’t remember ever feeling so desperate as he felt the outline of Minseok’s cock brushing against his ass crack.

He started trying to take his sweatpants off, but Minseok stopped him.

“It’s almost four thirty.”

“What?” Sehun stared at Minseok’s fingers on his wrist, and Minseok nodded at the wall clock.

Sehun glared at the time and wanted to throw something at it. How dare the minutes slide by so quickly?

“We have five more minutes,” he said, and Minseok agreed that yes, they did have five more minutes.

…

Minseok glared at his drink and felt sorry for himself. Irene said she would stop by the club, and he was sure to get an earful. Sehun was busy with something on the other end of the bar, and the other bartender kept sneaking curious looks at Minseok when he thought he wasn’t paying attention.

“The parking is terrible around here,” Irene said with a huff as she sat on the stool next to Minseok’s.

Minseok shrugged. Sehun had noticed her but had turned back in the other direction quickly.

“Have you not fed yet?” she asked after a moment, looking suspicious.

Minseok groaned. “I don’t want to leave him, and it hasn’t been as bad as I thought.”

Irene heaved an enormous sigh. “You are in deep, my poor friend.”

Minseok swirled his drink around in its glass. “Anything new?”

Irene allowed the change of subject. “I’m afraid the trail’s gone cold. Jongin said that he would come with us to walk into one of their traps, if we got reports of another resentful soul, but all the ones we’ve dealt with recently have been real, no-gods-involved cases. Unfortunately, it looks like we’re going to have to wait things out.”

Minseok shuddered. “That sounds fun.”

Irene shrugged. “Occupational hazard.”

“What do you think about Sehun?”

She considered for a moment. “Taeyeon thinks that they’re done with him. Jongin is a little bit more conservatively minded. I think you should stay in touch, stay nearby, but we can probably dispense with some caution for now.”

“That’s good. I think he misses going out.”

“Honestly, Jongin might be able to pull some strings to get a little bit of protection on him too. I’ll ask.” She rummaged around in her purse for a few seconds and pulled out a makeup bag. “Can you order me some brandy? I’m going to the bathroom.”

Minseok nodded and waved at Sehun.

“She wants a brandy, make it top-shelf. I’ll take one too,” he said, reaching over for the quickest of hand-holds. Sehun smiled at him.

“You two seem close.” He set the two glasses of brandy down next to Minseok.

“We’re kind of like siblings,” he said. “We became soul eaters at the same time.”

Sehun was called over by another customer and Minseok pulled out his phone to see if any of his exorcists had seen anything out of the ordinary. Everything was completely ordinary.

“There was only one toilet in the women’s bathroom,” Irene complained when she returned, downing her brandy in a few big gulps.

Minseok shrugged and took a sip of his own. “This place doesn’t get that many women.”

She made a face at him and he was distracted by loud cheers from the direction of the stage. There was someone coming out on stage. He squinted. There was a faint haze around him like a spiritual footprint. The color was unfamiliar; it felt like the gray of a winter’s ocean. That was a funny effect for them to go for.

“Is that -- ?” Irene asked, also squinting at the stage.

“You see that too?” Minseok asked.

“Fuck,” they both said.

…

“Fuck,” Sehun gasped. Minseok had him pressed against the back of his door, one leg in between his legs and pressing against his erection.

Minseok’s mouth tasted like apples, maybe with a few notes of pine, even some chocolate. That must’ve been some good brandy. Sehun wanted to do a thorough tasting of his entire body, taking notes so that he could try new delicious combinations in the future.

But in order to fully appreciate the flavor of a liquor, you always needed to do a first tasting to coat your entire palate, before going in for the more thorough, more refined, second tasting. And this was Sehun’s first tasting.

He lifted one leg and wrapped it around Minseok’s waist, dragging him closer and giving them both a new angle to adjust to. He could tell that Minseok liked it a lot, if the sharp gasp he made was any indication.

“Sehun,” Minseok said, “we should discuss a bit.”

But even as he said that he was unbuttoning Sehun’s shirt, expressing his appreciation for the dusky pink of Sehun’s nipples.

“You’re so good at discussing,” Sehun teased, wondering if Minseok would be able to hold him up for a bit if he lifted his other leg.

Minseok groaned and finally pulled himself away from the door and from Sehun, panting. His eyes were dilated and his lips were swollen and red. He ran a hand through his hair agitatedly. “Fuck, no. We should actually discuss.”

He backed away slowly towards the couch and Sehun reluctantly followed, glad that Minseok still let him sit on his lap.

“Look,” Minseok began. “I really like you. It feels so different and new with you. But I feel guilty, because I don’t know what you make of all of this, and how you’re handling it, and you deserve someone human too. I don’t want you to get the wrong idea because of what I am.”

That made Sehun frown. “I really like you too. And so what if I get the wrong idea? I’d still have feelings for you. I’d still want to at least give us a chance.”

“But still,” Minseok said, his face twisted. “You’re still only mortal.”

“So what? From all that you’ve said, you depend on us mortals to survive. Can you at least give us an opportunity to stand on equal footing with you? What’s so wrong with giving us a try? If you want to, that is.”

“Of course I  _ want _ to,” Minseok replied.

Then he was silent for a long time. Sehun watched his face and forgot that he wasn’t human.

“Okay,” he said at last. “I’m willing to try. There’s a first time for everything.”

Sehun beamed at him, and he laughed.

“You’re insufferable.”

“You love it.” Sehun slid a little bit off of Minseok’s lap and walked two of his fingers down Minseok’s chest and towards his groin. “So can we finish?”

“Yeah,” Minseok replied, surging up for a kiss.

It soon became heated again, and Sehun shed his shirt, preening under Minseok’s hungry gaze. He tugged Minseok’s shirt off too, and reached down to free his cock from his pants. It was just as beautiful as he had remembered. He gave some attention to it with his hands before sucking it into his mouth, savoring the taste. He sucked for a few moments, then pulled off the head with a pop.

“Fuck my throat,” he said, and Minseok moaned, his hips bucking up off the couch.

Sehun slid Minseok’s pants further down to give him room to maneuver, and Minseok grabbed the back of Sehun’s neck to keep his mouth in place as he fucked upwards quickly. Sehun could feel it hitting the back of his throat and he palmed himself through his pants to keep the heady feeling of arousal from completely taking over his brain. He gagged and coughed a few times, but eventually they found a good rhythm, Minseok emptying into Sehun’s mouth with a groan.

Sehun swallowed most of it and let a little bit dribble down his chin. He could tell Minseok liked it.

“Shall we move to the bedroom?” he suggested, and Minseok groaned weakly but soon stood, kicking his pants the rest of the way off and helping Sehun out of the rest of his clothes too.

Sehun flopped onto the bed and turned over to grab the lube, but Minseok had already beaten him to it. He spread some on his fingers, his other hand finding its way into Sehun’s mouth as his head disappeared in between Sehun’s legs. His touch on Sehun’s hole was gentle and experienced, so that he slipped inside easily and Sehun was soon roiling with pleasure as Minseok put two, then three fingers inside.

“Think you can come like this?” Minseok asked as he kept brushing against Sehun’s prostate.

Sehun nodded desperately and pulled Minseok up for a kiss, rutting against his stomach as he fell apart in his arms.

He came with a little surprised cry as Minseok took one of his nipples in his mouth, his fingers pumping in and out faster and faster. He moaned out his pleasure during the aftershocks, hugging Minseok to his chest and refusing to let go. Minseok chuckled and let himself be squeezed.

They lay like that for a few moments before Sehun’s fingers crept back down to Minseok’s cock, hard and already leaking between his legs. He gave it a gentle squeeze and relished the little noises that Minseok made as he brushed it over the slickness of his hole.

“Can I ride you?” he whispered into Minseok’s ear, and Minseok eagerly breathed his agreement.

They switched positions on the bed and Sehun leaned over to grab a condom. His heart sank when he realized that they were out. His hand rummaged around the drawer full of useless wrappers and other odds and ends.

“We’re out of condoms,” he groaned, laying back on the bed.

Minseok looked like he wanted to say something.

“What?”

“I don’t really need one,” he said. “This body can’t get sick or anything. So, unless you need one…”

“Why didn’t you say so earlier!” Sehun slammed the drawer shut and went over to straddle Minseok, getting himself into position. Minseok moaned his appreciation; Sehun figured he looked good.

He sank down slowly, savoring the angle and the look of concentration on Minseok’s face. When he began bouncing up and down, Minseok’s hands went to his hips to steady him, and his own hands went to play with his nipples. His mouth fell open and his eyes shut with the pleasure, his back arching forward as his head fell back.

“Fuck,” he heard Minseok say.

Sehun’s thighs burned with the effort but every slam down that was met with one of Minseok’s upward thrusts was worth it. He could feel himself getting close, and then Minseok was flipping them over, pushing Sehun’s face into the bed just the way he liked, lifting his hips up so his ass was in the air. Sehun let out an involuntary squeak of pleasure and he heard Minseok laugh.

“I know you like it this way,” he said, and Sehun nodded, his hands fisting into the sheets.

Minseok quickly slid inside; it was so easy at this point. And Sehun just let himself be carried by the pleasure as Minseok fucked him open, his legs sliding farther apart with every thrust.

“Come inside,” he said, and the way Minseok subsequently picked up the pace was enough to let Sehun know that he had heard.

He felt Minseok’s hand wrap around his own cock, and it only took a few more thrusts before they were both coming. Sehun loved the feeling of Minseok’s hot release inside of him.

They both collapsed onto the bed, and Sehun warned, “I’m going to fall asleep.”

  
“Sleep,” he heard Minseok say, placing a kiss on his forehead. “I’ll clean up.”

So he slept.

…

It was chilly that morning. Minseok fixed the covers on Sehun’s shoulders and enjoyed a few moments of peace before they had to tackle the day. He felt good about last night; he didn’t regret anything. Even Irene had said that Sehun seemed different than other mortals, and Minseok thought that they had a good chance of working out together. He was happy.

Now he just had to tackle the next challenge in front of them.

Sehun always woke so slowly, rolling around on the bed in the last throes of dreaming before stretching luxuriously like a cat and finally opening his eyes. Minseok watched as he blinked a few times, looking around him, before his gaze found Minseok.

Minseok’s heart clenched every time Sehun smiled at him, especially when it was like that, his hair still ruffled from sleep and a crease on the side of his face from where he’d been smushed into the pillow.

“Good morning,” he said, and Sehun crawled over for a kiss.

“Good morning to you too,” he murmured against Minseok’s lips. He sat back for a moment and looked at Minseok. “Wow, you’re really glowing.”

Minseok laughed. “Thanks for the spiritual energy.”

“Anytime.”

Minseok kissed the sleep off of Sehun’s face for a few moments before pulling away.

“Do you have work again today?” he asked.

“Yeah.” Sehun had picked up one of Minseok’s hands again and was playing with the fingers.

“We have a little bit of a lead,” Minseok said. “We found someone with an unfamiliar spiritual footprint on them, and we think they might be involved with all of this. We’re going to investigate tonight, so maybe Irene can hang out with you at work tonight?”

“Why isn’t she going?”

Minseok sighed. “I don’t want her to go. I think it should be me that deals with this.”

“Why?”

“I want to know what happened,” Minseok said. “I want to find whoever’s behind this and make sure they don’t come after you, or any of us, again.”

“Why don’t we all go, then?” Sehun laid Minseok’s hand down on the bed and went for his head instead, cradling it close in his arms.

Minseok considered. Jongin had promised to keep an eye out, so they would be completely safe if something went wrong. Besides, after their conversation last night, Minseok felt that Sehun should be allowed to decide if he wanted to go. “Alright.”

“I’ll call in sick at work,” Sehun said, giving Minseok a kiss on the nose before heading into the bathroom. “Want to join me in the shower?”

Minseok got up right away and started pulling off his pants.

…

“Is that it?” Irene asked skeptically when they pulled up in front of the house.

It looked very ordinary, with a few weeds growing across the lawn and a summery wreath hanging on the door.

“He lives in his parents’ basement,” Taeyeon said, rolling her eyes.

“Let’s just go and take a look,” Minseok said, unbuckling his seat belt. “We have no other leads.”

They all got out of the car and took a minute to stretch. Sehun reached over and stuck a hand in the pocket of Minseok’s pants. Taeyeon didn’t seem to notice, but Irene gave him a knowing smile.

There was nobody home; the parents were out of town, and the son was out for the night. Irene made quick work of the lock, letting them all in through the back door. Sehun seemed impressed, and made her promise to teach him later. They’d been getting along very well ever since the previous night.

The inside was also very ordinary. Minseok was grateful that they didn’t have a dog. Animals were always better at sensing the spiritual.

They all filed into the basement and Taeyeon turned on the light. It was a very messy, very ordinary living space.

“What should we be looking for?” Sehun asked after a pause.

Minseok sighed. “We were hoping to find some spiritual traces, but there’s nothing here.”

“That was anticlimactic,” Irene complained, taking a stick of gum out of her purse.

“It’s probably just coincidence that the godling’s spiritual footprint showed up,” Taeyeon decided. “Maybe the mortal just caught the godling’s fancy for some reason or another.”

Sehun was leafing through some of the papers on the desk in the corner. “He certainly has some eclectic tastes.”

Minseok went over to stand next to Sehun while the other soul eaters discussed the next steps of their plan.

“What do you make of all of this?” he asked him.

Sehun shrugged. “At first they wanted to find a soul eater, but now that some come chasing after them, they’re nowhere to be found. Maybe they changed their minds? Or there’s an issue with their leadership?”

That was a possibility.

Sehun took out his phone and snapped a picture of one of the pages on the desk.

“What’s that?”

Sehun’s finger traced over the embossed emblem at the top of the page, the first in a thick stack. Although in an old style, the design had a modern touch to it -- a two-headed serpent, with both heads, one black and one red, swallowing the same circle.

“Not sure,” he replied. “It looks weird though. I’m just a little curious. I want to see if they have any other designs.”

Minseok nodded and they rejoined the others.

“We’ll have some of the exorcists keep an eye on this house for any strange activity,” Irene said. “But I don’t think anything will come of it. The spiritual footprint was really weak, anyway.”

“Well,” Taeyeon said. “While we’re out here, why don’t we get some ice cream? I know a good place nearby.”

Minseok’s hand tightened on Sehun’s as they went back to the car.

…

Sehun’s hand tightened around his ice cream cone. “I see.”

So tonight would be their last night together in the apartment.

“I know you’ve been missing your normal life, being able to go out and everything,” Minseok said. “And you’ll be really safe. Safer than with me, actually, since Jongin is sending some of his shadows to watch over you.”

That was a strange thought, that a god would be looking after him.

“Do you guys mind taking an Uber back?” Irene sat down next to them. “Taeyeon lives around here, and I was planning to get some hunting done.”

“That sounds fine. Have fun,” Minseok said.

“Bye!” Taeyeon waved as she stepped into a car; someone had come to pick her up. Sehun had discovered that she was a lot sweeter than she seemed, with her perfect makeup and her sharp teeth; he wasn’t scared of her anymore.

“I’ll see you two around then,” Irene said, giving them both a kiss on the cheek before heading to the parking lot.

“Thanks for everything,” Sehun said when they’d both gone.

Minseok shook his head. “I should be thanking you. Apologizing, even.”

Sehun broke off a piece of the waffle cone with his teeth. “What’ll happen to us?”

“What do you want to happen to us?”

Sehun hesitated. He wasn’t sure what was allowed. “I think I’d like it if we could be a couple.”

Minseok’s smile relaxed him. “I’d like that too.”

“Would we be exclusive?” Sehun asked.

“I’m up for it if you are,” Minseok said. “I can always try to change my energy source to something else.”

Sehun shook his head. “Don’t. Didn’t you say it was painful?”

“Just a little.” Minseok paused. “Well, the longer you feed from the same person, the more spiritual energy you get, so maybe it could work.”

“Let’s figure it out together.” Sehun rescued some of the ice cream dripping off the side of his cone with his tongue.

“That sounds great.” Minseok leaned in to lick the excess ice cream off. Sehun could feel himself flushing; Minseok’s mouth was so sweet.

…

Minseok had gone back to his apartment to pick up some more clothes. He was going to spend one last night at Sehun’s place, and then they were going to go back to the way it was before. Sehun turned on the TV for some background noise and got in front of his laptop to do some serious Googling.

The design was hard to find through keyword search or reverse image search. All he turned up was a few similar-looking designs, mostly for tattoos. After a good hour of digging around, he was ready to give up. As a last attempt, he sent the picture to one of his college friends who was savvier with all the weird corners of the Internet. If he didn’t know, it was probably just a dead end.

He did like the design, though. Maybe he could get it as a patch or something.

The doorbell rang, and Sehun got up to let Minseok in. They decided to have an early night, getting ready for bed and cuddling a little bit in the dark before falling asleep.

…

“Sehun, wake up.” Minseok put his hand on Sehun’s shoulder and shook him awake.

He woke with a gasp, sitting up in bed and looking around in confusion.

“I think you were having a nightmare,” Minseok said.

Sehun nodded, his eyes full of tears, and let himself be wrapped up in Minseok’s embrace. “I dreamt of that day again. I thought it was happening to me again.”

Minseok knew which day he was talking about. “It’s fine,” he murmured. “I won’t let that happen again to you.”   
  


They stayed like that for a few moments, and then Sehun pulled away, wiping his tears with a weak smile on his face. “Thanks.”

“Do you want to go back to bed?”

“What time is it?” Sehun asked, reaching for his phone. After glancing at the time, he decided, “I think I’m just going to get up. You go back to bed, though.”

“I’ll get up too,” Minseok said, stretching. “It’s my last morning here.”

“Hopefully not,” Sehun teased as they went to the bathroom together.

…

Sehun put his hands in the pocket of Minseok’s hoodie and wouldn’t let go until he got a good-bye kiss.

“I should get going,” Minseok said when they finally broke apart.

“We should go on a date,” Sehun said. “Next week.”

Minseok smiled. “I’d like that.”

He gave Sehun’s hand one last squeeze and then turned to walk down the hallway. Once he’d gone, Sehun sat down at his laptop and mindlessly checked some emails. He stopped when he saw that his college buddy had replied to his question. There were a few attachments in the email. He opened it up to take a look.

_ I don’t know where you saw this, but it’s led me down quite a rabbit hole. This symbol appears to belong to a death cult called the Gray Twins that was started twenty years ago. Here’s everything I found about them _ .

Sehun skimmed over the rest of the email quickly. He was impressed by all that his friend had managed to find. He paused when he read the last line.

_ I hope you know what you’re doing. _

He reached for his phone to call Minseok.

…

“Missed me already?” Minseok teased when he picked up the phone. He could practically hear Sehun rolling his eyes.

“I think you should come look at this.” His voice sounded nervous.

Minseok’s heart sunk in his chest. “What is it?”

“You know that logo we found at the house? I followed up on it, and found a lot of stuff. I think you should just come look at it.”

“I’ll be over right away.”

…

“It’s too dangerous,” Minseok said, shaking his head. “We don’t know what we’re walking into.”

“But what could happen?” Sehun pressed. “You said Jongin is going to be there. If he can’t protect me when I’m right there, how is he supposed to protect me when I’m living my ordinary life?”

Minseok sighed, rubbing his forehead with a palm. “What do you think, Irene?”

Irene shrugged. “Let him come. We’ll all be there, so I can’t see anything bad happening.”

Minseok groaned. “You’re supposed to be on my side.”

Irene shrugged and winked at Jongin while Minseok was banging his head against the wall.

“Fine,” Minseok said finally. “But you’re not leaving my sight.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Sehun quipped.

Just then, one of the exorcists looked up from his work. “I found the headquarters of the Gray Twins. It’s an hour away by car.”

Minseok and Irene nodded at each other, looking more serious than Sehun had ever seen them.

“Let’s go find out what this is all about,” Minseok said.

...

The old warehouse was empty, graffiti covering every possible inch of its outside. Minseok threaded his fingers through Sehun’s, reaching out with his spiritual energy to sense any ill intent in the air around them. He didn’t find any, although he did sense a few spiritual beings inside the warehouse.

“Godlings,” Taeyeon said.

Jongin made a slashing motion with his hand and the wall of the warehouse crumpled in front of them, the metal peeling away like the skin of an overripe fruit. The godlings inside tried to run, but they were outnumbered. In between the exorcists and Jongin’s shadows, they were quickly overwhelmed. Minseok felt Sehun’s hand tightening in his as they watched; he was glad that Sehun wouldn’t see him fight.

They moved to the side as the fighting started to move towards them, Irene throwing her arm out to cover Sehun’s body.

“Shouldn’t you go help them?” Sehun asked.

Irene shook her head. “They’ll be fine.”

It was over quickly after that, the shadows curling around the godlings so they wouldn’t escape. Jongin led them over.

“Where is your master?” he asked. His voice was a thousand voices, in ten thousand languages, and even Minseok felt his ears ringing.

The shadows tightened and the godlings cried out in pain. Finally one of them, young-looking, spoke up. “They’ve gone to Limbo to kill the king.”

Minseok’s vision exploded in searing light and he turned to the side, wrapping his body around Sehun. When he looked up, he saw that the shadows had condensed into an infinitesimally small point, crushing the godlings within. Their power was fizzling out of their mortal bodies, evanescing into the air and most likely adding to Jongin’s power. He felt Sehun swallow, and he kept his arm wrapped around Sehun’s waist.

Jongin’s eyes were closed, and the shadows were contorting in anguished shapes, trembling, fighting with one another, slithering along the ground. Then he took a deep breath and the shadows condensed back around him, settling onto his shoulders like a massive cloak.

He sighed, and when he spoke his voice was human again. “It’s over.”

“Do you know who’s responsible?” Minseok asked.

“The twin goddesses of life and death,” Taeyeon said. “They’ve always challenged your authority.”

“So they switched tactics to target the king of Limbo instead,” Irene realized, “because of how much D.O means to you.”

Jongin’s eyes were dark, frighteningly matte with no whites at all. “I’ve been evading them for years. They must’ve gotten frustrated. But I never thought that they knew about us. I have to go to Limbo.”

The shadows began to condense even further around him, an inexplicable wind whipping through the stale air around them. As he was beginning to fade from view, the shadows parted for only a moment.

“Thank you.”

…

It was all revealed slowly, in pieces, through the grapevine of soul eaters. Sehun didn’t know much about it, but apparently wherever Jongin had gone was so far that they couldn’t communicate well with him. It was enough to know that he was safe, and whoever he was trying to protect was safe. Minseok seemed relieved when he got the news, and so Sehun was relieved too.

But he was glad that things were back to normal, regardless. Well, as normal as it could be now that he was dating an incubus.

“Want to go apple picking?” Minseok asked one cold fall morning. Sehun could see his car through the window of his apartment. “I need to get a resentful soul in the area.”

Sehun pouted. “Are you going to make me wait in the car?”

Minseok laughed, his gums showing. “I thought you could help me, actually. You’re getting a lot better at detecting spiritual energy these days.”

Sehun felt his heart beginning to pick up pace in his chest. “Okay.”

“Don’t blush on me,” Minseok said, leaning into the camera slightly. “It makes you even cuter.”

Sehun groaned and hung up so Minseok wouldn’t see him blush even harder.

When they arrived at the location that Minseok’s report indicated, Sehun felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

“What is that?” he asked.

“Resentful energy,” Minseok said grimly. “The lost soul must be close by still.”

They got out of the car to investigate on foot. It was a small town, barely more than a post office and a diner.

“So how are we going to find it?” Sehun asked.

“There are three ways to find a resentful soul,” Minseok said as they walked past the diner and along to an old war memorial. “If the trail is fresh enough, you can track the soul visually. If that doesn’t work, you can do some research and search locations that are likely to be important to the lost soul. If even that doesn’t work, you need to trap the soul somehow.”

They glanced up at the statue of a World War II soldier, his face flaking off slowly with age.

“I can’t make out any trail,” Sehun said.

Minseok nodded. “We’ll have to use the second method. Let’s go ask around.”

They got a table at the diner and the waitress gave them a knowing smile as she went to get their coffee. Minseok tried not to make a face as Sehun shucked off his shoe and ran his toes along the inside of Minseok’s thigh.

“What can I get for you?” she asked when she returned with two steaming mugs of coffee.

“I want pancakes,” Sehun said. “Chocolate chip.”

“Okay,” Minseok said. “And I’ll have scrambled eggs and home fries.”

“Say,” Sehun began. “Has anyone died around here recently?”

The waitress raised an eyebrow. “Funny you should ask.”

When Sehun looked over at Minseok he was smiling. He could get used to this, to working together and more importantly, to being together.

…

“How old are you, anyway?” Sehun asked one night as they were cuddling. He preferred to be the big spoon.

It had been almost a year since they’d first met, and since then their lives had become so intertwined in each other’s that Minseok would never be able to hunt again. Sehun was his anchor in the mortal world, and he wouldn’t have it any other way. They’d moved in together after a few more months, Minseok becoming something of a homebody now that he didn’t need to hunt. He spent his days holding meetings with his exorcists, trying new recipes in the kitchen, and distracting Sehun from his work because he just looked so tempting with his glasses sliding down low on his nose. Every few weeks they would go track down a lost soul, and it was getting to the point that Sehun didn’t even need his help anymore. Minseok felt pampered.

Minseok thought for a moment. “When I came to this world, the year was 1861.”

There was a little intake of breath from Sehun. “So you’ve always looked like that?”

Minseok laughed. “Yeah. I picked this body because it reminded me of the way I looked before I died. I was a human before. Irene wasn’t.”

A long pause. “So are you saying there are aliens?”

“Yes.”

“Will you ever stop blowing my mind?” Sehun asked teasingly, and Minseok shrugged, turning around and placing a few pecks on Sehun’s lips.

That devolved quickly into a makeout session, which then turned into more cuddling, and soon they were both so relaxed and sleepy that Sehun reached over to turn off the light for the night.

Minseok could feel himself drifting off to sleep when he heard Sehun’s whisper: “I’m glad you decided to feed from me that night. I’m glad I got to meet you, and I don’t even regret getting kidnapped because it gave me an excuse to see you again. I hope we can always be like this. I don’t want to be without you anymore.”

Minseok smiled to himself, and when he thought Sehun was asleep, he whispered back, “I love you too.”

The next morning, they saw the news flooding all types of media:  _ Wormholes discovered, NASA to send probes within the year _ .

…

Jongin was waiting for him at their usual meeting spot. With everything that was happening in the mortal world, there was a lot to discuss. They went over everything that had happened when Jongin was in Limbo, and their plans for the future. But Jongin didn’t seem to think much of the turmoil in the mortal world; he reassured Minseok that it would all soon seem very normal. Minseok supposed that Jongin knew what he was talking about, considering that he’d already witnessed the world order change many times before.

They’d both finished several drinks by the time Minseok turned the topic towards Sehun, and their conversation the previous night.

“We weren’t meant for immortality,” Minseok finished with a sigh. He drained the rest of his whiskey in a gulp.

“Your heart is still mortal,” Jongin said understandingly. “But the first requirement of immortality is not wanting it.”

Minseok knew that. 

Jongin shrugged. The shadows that constantly swirled around him, invisible to the mortal eye, seemed thicker than usual, clinging to him like armor.

“It would not be the strangest love story I’ve ever heard,” he said. “The soul always finds a way.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I'm sort of tossing around an idea for a story centering around Kaisoo in this universe, but I haven't fleshed it out that much. We'll see where it goes.


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